About This Collection
This collection includes early photographs showing student life, faculty, buildings, and grounds of Friends' Central School, a co-ed Quaker School founded by three Quaker meetings in 1845. The school has had three locations; 4th and Cherry St, 15th and Race St. in Philadelphia and City Line Ave in Wynnewood, PA. The current location is the former estate of the Wistar Morris family and was landscaped by Frederick Olmstead. The collection gives an overview of the history of Quaker education and includes photographs of early Quaker educators important in the history of Quaker meetings in the Philadelphia area. Quaker curriculum was unique for its time. The school included both Quaker and non-Quaker children from both Hicksite and Orthodox Quaker Meetings. Science and Latin were taught to both boys and girls and both genders participated in physical education. Holidays were not observed. An early instructor was Benjamin Eakins, who taught penmanship and the headmaster who was present during the relocation to City Ave, was Barclay Jones, cousin of Rufus Jones. Photographs from the 1920s included in the collection highlight the beauty of the Wistar Morris estate whose mansion is still used as the main campus building and features an original Tiffany window.